when i started high school
i was in a box.
perhaps, i was boxed before
9th grade. but the box closed
with packing tape
very soon after.

this box--cardboard, brown
small. too small. too much.
became my ideal.
                                  "there is nothing outside
                                   these cardboard confines"
and so i went.
no air holes
no time to
breathe.

it is here
now. gasping hard for air
where i decide,
to cut the tape.
rip apart those confines
to which i have been conformed to
fit. just so

no matter
i have the ******* knife.